The Future
by Workparty
Summary: Nothing is ever set in stone, and few people could know that better than Danny Phantom. After all, he's been to the future, and he doesn't always like what he's seen. With a new entry every Wednesday, it's a 5-part anthology featuring all of yesterday's tomorrows!


"And who are you supposed to be?"

The man in front of him was practically bouncing on his heels, trying to hide a stupid grin by biting his lower lip. The giddy energy came close to undercutting the effect of his velvety voice. "Some would say a businessman. Others might say a hero. I'd say I'm just a guy who finally got the hang of being two things at once." His eyes were sparkling, even in the dim lighting of the back alley.

Danny Phantom took a moment to fully take in the other's appearance. A slim-cut red jacket with brushed nickel buttons sat on top of a plain white dress shirt, the top button left casually undone. Mint green pants lead down to polished brown loafers that shone out among the loose gravel and muddy water that covered the ground. Boxy, rimless glasses sat in front of bright blue eyes, framed instead by his loosely groomed black hair.

He almost stumbled at the shock of recognition, taking a few steps back. "Oh my gosh."

Dan Fenton, on the other hand, broke into an even wider grin, the merest suggestion of future crow's feet visible as his eyes crinkled. "I'll admit I cheated. I still think back to this day sometimes, so I knew exactly when and where to roll out the welcome wagon."

"Clockwork said he wanted me to face my future, but I didn't think he meant it so _literally._ "

"Maybe the ghost knew that you'd want to see this with an empathetic guide." Some of the joy left Dan's voice, but he was still smiling. " _So_ , ditch the undead look, and let's head out, shall we?" His future self made a show of stepping to the side and grandly gesturing to the end of the grimy passage, intending for the other to take the lead. As Phantom became Fenton, Danny walked forward, entirely unprepared for what lay ahead of them.

The street was flanked by a wall of buildings, forming a curving, sloping canyon done in white, with glittering glass and steel accents giving the city spires an almost surreal quality. High above the asphalt, cars flew rapidly between buildings, following ordered streets and pathways apparently only visible to them. The sun shone brightly through a deep blue summer sky, with only the barest hint of shimmering green visible. He stood there slack-jawed right until a hand firmly clasped him on the shoulder. The smile was back in the man's voice. "Danny, welcome to 2014."

* * *

"So you're filthy rich, and you don't own a car?"

"What...?" His older double blinked at Danny's question before the meaning clicked. "Oh, no, I do. But I like taking the maglev. It's much more efficient, public transit."

Danny chuckled. "I guess Sam rubbed off on you."

"Hmm."

The mostly-empty train car slid smoothly above the rail below, finally turning around a bend and out of the canyon of offices and condos. Crystal-clear windows ran the full height of the walls and curved up at the top to form part of the ceiling. Bright sunlight beamed in, and Dan winced at the sudden glare. Danny watched as he adjusted a small knob next to the seat, the glass darkening to let them see outside without risking blindness.

Danny again caught a glimpse of the strange green shimmer in the sky. It was barely visible right above them, but was much more prominent looking out at the horizon; in particular, around a series of towers that seemed to ring the entire city.

"Hey, what's up with the towers, anyway? Some kind of force field?"

Dan nodded, still staring off into the distance. "Yeah. There was a battle, once. Right near here. We're still not sure what the long-term health effects are going to be like, so you know, better safe than sorry, we filter all the air that enters Amity Park. It still allows 97% of natural light through, but the health authority is keeping an eye on the population's vitamin D levels."

"Um. That's interesting and all, but I'd kind of like to know more about that battle you mentioned...?"

"One of the last ghost attacks."

"Oh?"

The older man finally looked at Danny, searching for something. When he found it, he turned back to the window before replying. "I took care of it."

Neither of them said anything for a few moments, and the subtly dangerous whir of high voltage below their feet was the only noise to keep them company. The train began to slow down as it approached what was either a single enormous building or a collection of white and gray blocks piled carelessly by a giant toddler. While it was wider than it was tall, it still loomed over the surroundings, a collection of immobile construction sites and old-style shops and low-rises. They were the first things he'd seen that Danny thought he recognized.

"Where are we going, anyway?"

" _La Kafejo_. It's a little hole-in-the-wall coffee shop downtown. I have a funny feeling you'll like their caraway mocha."

"Because you like it, I'm guessing?"

"It's better than it sounds, trust me."

"I'm not actually sure if I've ever tasted caraway before, so I guess I'll believe you."

The track lead straight into the building, through a force-fielded passage. Danny felt a slight rumble wrack his nerves as he passed through it. As soon as they were on the other side, he gasped in shock. At least half of the interior space must have been taken up by the massive atrium. The floor where the train entered was one of the lower ones; it appeared to be some kind of shopping mall, although he couldn't quite tell what was on the dozens of upper levels. Exotic looking trees and billboard-sized advertisements gave the only relief from the bright white tiles, lit by the massive corrugated skylight it had instead of a roof.

A crisply computer-generated female voice announced "Downtown Amity Park" when they finally coasted to a stop.

Danny wasn't even sure where to begin, giving his companion a questioning look. Dan gave him a familiar lopsided grin. "Why bother to rebuild when you can improve, right?"

* * *

Dan had a very strange definition of "hole in the wall". The cafe was prominently placed on the fourth floor, open to the complex's atrium. It overlooked the transportation hub, the noise thankfully cut down by a series of translucent sound-absorbing panels hanging above them from tall, beige supporting columns made to resemble abstract trees. _La Kafejo_ was, as had been explained to him, popular with office workers and residents from the upper floors, but stood practically empty compared even to the thin bands of shoppers that otherwise populated the area.

"I reserved all the tables earlier," Dan had explained, "I don't like crowds if I can help it."

The teen was still processing Amity Park's makeover when he found himself perched on a sleek metal stool in front of a glass table, a pair of steaming beverages separating him from his counterpart. At Dan's prompting, Danny had indeed gone for a caraway mocha, his ceramic mug smelling sweetly of chocolate and licorice. Dan himself had ordered some kind of macchiato in a tall, tapered tumbler, the contents separated into several distinct layers visible from the side.

"So, you must have a lot of questions for me."

"And I'm guessing you have a lot of advice for me, right? I would."

"Less than you might think. It's like... Well, it's like when we almost died in the portal accident. Sometimes we have to go through the painful moments to do the things that matter."

"...really not liking the sound of 'painful moments'."

Dan chuckled at that. He took a sip of his drink, staring wistfully off into the distance. Danny followed the man's gaze to a water feature at the far end of the vast plaza, a series of twisting stainless steel beams shaped into an abstract swan, water pouring down its bill and into the shimmering collection pool below. It seemed to be a small hub of activity, relative to the other public art.

After a moment, Dan dabbed a napkin at his milk-foam mustache before turning back to Danny. "You're in for some interesting times. And you know that deep down, we wouldn't have it any other way, would we?"

Danny couldn't really argue with that. "So what _can_ you tell me? What do you even do, for starters?"

"I guess I could tell you about my— sorry, _our_ , latest little venture. I took over operations at FentonWorks a few years ago. With some seed capital, I managed to turn... Our parents' research into something they'd be proud of. Once you really dig under the skin, there're all sorts of applications for ectoplasmic technologies. Gravity field generators are a big part of course, but most of the business is in intelligent computing. There've also been a few small test projects with _intra-_ dimensional portals, although you need to go from Tokyo to Los Angeles before the economics make sense on that one. Oh, there's also this guy here."

He plucked a small, discrete headset from his right ear and passed it across the table. Danny took it and looked at him dubiously. "You invented the Fenton Phone? You're about 10 years late here."

The man smiled. "It's had a few upgrades. Try it on!"

Danny shrugged and fitted it into his ear. Almost immediately, a small beep sounded from the tiny speaker. _"Registering new user... Hello, and welcome to Ally, the first communication device that truly adapts to the user. Please access voice functionality by saying 'Hey Ally', or by pressing the button located on the exterior of the device."_ A small beep indicated the end of the welcome message, and a wide-eyed teen looked back to the still-grinning man.

"This is crazy! How does it know I'm a new user?"

"I told you I worked with intelligent computing, right? Trust me, Ally already knows plenty about you, just from your heart rate, body temperature, tiny twitches in your muscles... Not to mention the public data networks. It can track its position in 3-dimensional space using any data it can get its hands on, and chances are, it's looking at itself from a few different security cameras right now."

"Wait, what? Is that even _legal?_ "

Dan shrugged as if it wasn't that interesting a question. "It probably wouldn't be possible without Tucker, honestly. Most of my clients are in resources or manufacturing. Consumer goods aren't really my strong suit, too many... People. So Tuck wrapped up the fancy computing in a neat little package for them. And of course, Foley Tech provides the network access to every Ally device and something like 85% of all data producing or consuming devices in America, which streamlines things a fair bit legally."

"Heh. I guess I always knew Tucker would make it in the tech business. I hope you've got some good lawyers though. Or is that what Sam is doing?"

"No," he said flatly. "She was off somewhere in Africa last I heard, and for all I know or care she could stay there."

"I, uh..." He sipped his mocha hurriedly. Dan was currently seething. Danny attempted to avoid eye contact but just ended up in a staring contest with the creepy looking swan thing instead.

His older counterpart broke the tense silence a moment later, with a heavy sigh. "Sorry. It's just... It's been a while, but it's kind of a sore subject for me." He evidently anticipated Danny's question and cut him off. "Please, I'd rather not talk about her, if that's all right."

They lapsed back into silence, Dan deep in thought and Danny staring at nothing in particular until somewhere above a clock struck fifteen. Dan smiled again. "Hey, chin up. Maybe you'll even figure it all out before it becomes a problem. Like in _The Toynbee Convector_ or something."

The smile was at last hesitantly returned. "Easy for you to say. But now that I've seen the future, I have to go back and actually do the hard part."

"Well, I can't send you back unprepared! So... How'd you like to see the old lab?"

* * *

"So, this is where I built the first chips that power Ally."

"In the old basement lab?"

"Easier than trying to find bench space at headquarters, after the last hiring blitz." Dan shrugged, as the pair walked down the sidewalk of Danny's old haunt. Far from the radically changed neighborhoods closer to the city center, the street hadn't changed all that much, aside from the buildings having considerably less paint. As far as he could tell, nothing had even changed about his own house since his time; Dan even gave the key the same jiggle to get the locking mechanism to engage properly.

"I guess I'm just surprised you managed to work ghostly technology into microchips in our parents' basement, is all."

"Well, I suppose I had a bit of help from a ghost-in-the-know." Dan threw his burgundy jacket onto a coat rack as he passed inside the house, making a beeline for the kitchen. Danny was honestly struggling to keep up at a comfortable pace. At least he knew he had a growth spurt to look forward to. "Technus of all things showed up and worked out some of the kinks. The end result is a chip with unparalleled computing— no, _thinking_ capability, for its size and power requirements. It's powered primarily off the emotions of the user, don't even ask me how _that_ part works..."

"Uh, question: how did you convince Technus to help you at all? He hates me."

"As it turns out, certain weapons in the Fenton arsenal can be extremely... Persuasive." There was an entirely unfamiliar glint in his eye as Dan made his way down the lab stairs. Danny didn't like it.

"You aren't saying you, what, forced him into it at gunpoint?"

"Oh no, no. I made my point very strongly once and suggested he should assist me to avoid repeats. I've learned since I was 14 that it's best to make your case to your fullest ability the first time. There are fewer repeat problems that way." Danny didn't like that one bit.

"So what, now we _torture_ ghosts?"

"That implies they can feel pain. True pain, the way humans do." As he reached the lab floor, he turned on Danny and held up his hands, once again cutting off the teen's protests. "Please, please, just believe me when I say that I don't do it out of spite. I just do what is necessary to help the human race rebuild. No more, no less."

"What the hell are you rebuilding _from_ , anyway? I know you've been avoiding talking about some kind of battle, but... It was worse this time, wasn't it?"

"Like you wouldn't believe. It took more power than I thought possible to incapacitate all the ghosts that were destroying Amity Park. So much energy that it blasted the 'Phantom' right out of the 'Danny', and I still barely managed to trap all the ghosts before some of them started regaining consciousness."

"Is that why I haven't seen any ghosts since I got here?"

"I didn't even care if I could remerge with the ghost half, at that point. It had been over four straight days of fighting. I don't even know how many people were... How many I couldn't save. I had to stop the invasion."

"...what did you do with them?"

"But in the end, I saved the city. The country, even. And now, by taking advantage of ectoplasmic technologies, I can save the world."

"Dan, what did you do with the ghosts?"

The man slumped over a lab bench, for a moment. When his head turned back up, Danny almost shuddered at the cold look he received. "It's a funny thing, a mind. It's got all the processing power a human could ever want, but we can't replicate it in silicon. Not yet. There's no good way to deliver cooling and energy at that kind of density. At least, not with traditional matter."

This couldn't possibly be going where he thought it was. "You didn't."

"Ghosts are surprisingly malleable, you know. If they weren't, the Fenton Thermos would never work."

"What the **hell** , man?! Are you saying all your stupid computers are keeping ghosts _captive?_ "

"No, of course not!" The response was defensive. Angry. "I've already said, I am not a cruel man. Besides, you could never trust a piece of electronics that was fully sentient. In the process of creating the chip, I found a way to remove the higher functions. Leave the processing capability, remove the selfish motivations, obsessions, and all that nonsense."

The floor fell out from under Danny, but Dan was not deterred, walking around the bench and approaching the swaying teen with a placating gesture. "But don't worry! I didn't enter into this lightly. I knew the risks, so I started with the one ghost I could trust. I thought you might like that." He pointed right at Danny's ear, who was immensely grateful that there was a stool behind him when his blood ran cold and he collapsed onto it.

Danny ripped the Ally device away from his head and gave it a much closer look. The slick plastic glowed slightly. It tugged on the teen in a way that seemed almost... Familiar.

"You lobotomized Phantom. And put him in some stupid gadget."

"That's not entirely fair, Ally is so much more—"

"You literally took away the only good thing that has _ever_ happened to you, because... Why? Did you think cruelty would be _easier_?" He was almost hysterical. Panic and grief were threatening to overwhelm him.

"My god, you're starting to sound like Sam!"

That did it. "I can see why, you maniac! You cruel, shortsighted, sadistic, motherf—"

"—Shortsighted? This is the only damn thing that has made this future _possible!_ "

"This isn't the future! This is _murder!_ "

Dan frowned at his younger self, crossing his arms impatiently. "Hmph. Was I really this naive as a teenager?"

"Like I care what you think, psycho! I don't know what happened to you to make you this way, but I'm _never_ going to let it happen to me!"

Dan smiled that smile of his. "I already told you, didn't I? I remember this day. So I know that you'll make the right choices.

"After all, I've done what you never could. Think of how much the world has been improved because of what I've accomplished." He uncrossed his arms, one arm tracing along the lab table as he walked out from behind it. "You know what, it's more than that— think of all the precious human lives that could have been lost to ghost attacks. I've _saved_ them, Danny, don't you see? I saved all of them! Isn't that what we do?"

Danny forgot to back away as Dan closed the distance between them. The man's hands latched onto his cold shoulders. "Isn't that what this was always about?"

And then quite suddenly, those bright eyes were just inches from his own, caught halfway between pleading and mania. The final question came as a whisper.

"Isn't it?"

* * *

Author's Note:

 _And, once again, happy October! A new year, a new anthology. Or is it?_

 _I must apologize to long-time readers. You see, the plan was always to one day write an anthology of stories, linked by virtue of this setting (The Future, as glimpsed in_ The Ultimate Enemy _) and exploring... Loss. Friendship. Growth and change. The sorts of things one worries about figuring out in ten years. Now, the original plan as laid in December 2016 was for 8 stories based on prompts from an album I quite liked, but by February 2017 this was the only one I had finished. It was published on its own in that month when I had lost interest in the full anthology. I expect some small portion of you may have read it then._

 _This in comparison will be a much tighter work, free of gimmicks, and featuring five stories. I was quite happy with the work I did on_ this _story originally, although some slight edits have taken place. Nothing major, mostly small issues of wording. Things that seemed better then than now, changeable a thing that the brain is. The rest of this anthology will be mostly fresh work. You can expect a new entry every Wednesday, culminating in that spookiest of days, Halloween; on the tenth, we will be back in a cafe, examining why you should never go home._

 _P.S. For fans of my other writing,_ Amity Park After Dark _is in an odd sort of position. I am deeply unhappy with how it was progressing. Essentially the earliest part was the most poorly planned, and I do believe will be a very frustrating experience to write; thus why I am so keen to ease myself back into writing with an anthology series I am passionate about. But we will get there. This is my commitment to you._


End file.
